STEVE CROPPER (WILLOW SPRING, MO, 1941) IS AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT AMERICAN MUSICIANS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. IN MEMPHIS, WHILE ROCK'N'ROLL WAS EXPLODING AT SUN RECORDS STUDIOS, JIM STEWART, A WHITE MAN BORN IN MIDDLETON (TN) IN 1930, FOUNDED STAX RECORDS IN 1957, THE LABEL THAT REVOLUTIONIZED BLACK MUSIC IN THE SIXTIES. IN THE NORTH OF THE COUNTRY, FROM DETROIT, TAMLA-MOTOWN PREMIERED A NEW SOUND FOR THE WORLD, SOUL MUSIC, THE MIRACLES, MARVELETTES. SUPREMES, FOUR TOPS, SMOKEY ROBINSON, MARVIN GAYE, STEVIE WONDER OR JACKSON FIVE EXPLODED. IN THE SOUTH, STAX RECORDS ANNOUNCED ITS GLORY WITH RUFUS THOMAS, OTIS REEDING, SAM & DAVE, EDDIE FLOYD AND WILSON PICKETT. SOUTHERN SOUL HAD BEEN BORN AND THE "STAX SOUND" LEFT A DEEP MARK THAT WOULD BECOME ESSENTIAL IN SOUL AND BLACK MUSIC FROM 1960 ONWARDS. STEVE CROPER HAD FOUNDED THE BAR-KEYS IN 1958 WITH BASSIST DONALD DUNN, A BAND THAT BECAME STAX'S HOUSE BAND AND MAINLY RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING THE LABEL'S OWN SOUND, AS WELL CROPPER AS COMPOSER OF ITS ARTISTS' GREAT HITS. WITH THE ADDITION OF KEYBOARD PLAYER BOOKER T. JONES AND DRUMMER AL JACKSON JR., CROPPER AND DUNN COMPLETED BOOKER T. & THE MG'S, BACKED BY WAYNE JACKSON ON TRUMPET AND ANDREW LOVE ON SAX - THE MEMPHIS HORNS - THE BEST HORN SECTION OF ALL TIME, AND THE "STAX SOUND" COMPLETE THE BAND OF REFERENCE IN ALL OF THEIR RECORDINGS, CROPPER COMPOSED LYRICS AND HIT MUSIC FOR MANY OF THE LABEL'S ARTISTS AND THE MG'S WERE EVERYWHERE TAKING THE SOUND OF MEMPHIS SOUL TO EVERY CORNER OF THE PLANET. IN 1971 BOOKER T. JONES LEFT THE BAND AND THEIR ACTIVITY WAS STOPPED UNTIL THEY REUNITED AGAIN IN 1975. THAT SAME YEAR AL JACKSON JR. PASSED AND HIS ROLE WAS INTERMITTENTLY TAKEN BY OTHER DRUMMERS SUCH AS WILLIE HALL AND STEVE JORDAN. DONALD "DUCK" DUNN DIED IN 2012, CROOPER AND JONES CONTINUE WITH THEIR SOLO CAREERS TODAY. AT 82, STEVE "THE COLONEL" CROPPER RELEASES A NEW ALBUM, "FRIENDLYTOWN", WITH ZZ TOP's BILLY F. GIBBONS ON THE SESSIONS AND BRIAN MAY PLAYING GUITAR ON ONE OF THE TRACKS ON THE ALBUM. IT'S NOT AN ALBUM FOR NOSTALGIC PEOPLE, IT'S A FIRST CLASS MUSICAL WORK, MODERN AND IMMORTAL SOUTHERN SOUL.